When Luke met Lorelai
by The Eye of The Oncoming Storm
Summary: A series of short stories about Luke, his early friendship with Lorelai and Rory, and his personal history in Stars Hollow. Formerly "You Will Meet An Annoying Woman". Also on AO3
1. The Annoying Woman

**_Monday in Early June, 1996_**

It was lunch time. Luke's Diner was packed. Not unusual, but today it standing room only, which happened at least once a week. Not usually on a weekday though.

Luke was struggling to keep up with the orders. He just hired a new fry cook, a kid called Ceasar. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, but he wasn't used to having to cook so much and so fast. On top of it all, Luke was in a mood.

"Ceasar, I need those eggs!" He shouted at the kitchen.

"I'm cooking 'em, I'm cooking 'em!" Ceasar shouted back.

Kirk stepped in front of Luke as he tried to get some orders to a table by the window.

"Get out of the way Kirk." Luke growled.

Kirk didn't move. "Luke, I can see you're a little short-handed. Are you taking applications for servers at your diner?"

"No, I'm not Kirk." Luke pushed past him and set the plates on the table, then moved onto another table to take their order. "What can I get you?"

The bells on the door rang, signaling more customers. Luke groaned inwardly, and passed by the newcomer on his way to put orders in the ticket window. "I'll be with you in a minute."

Surprisingly, the woman followed him to the ticket window, talking a mile a minute. "I just need some coffee. I normally go over to Weston's, but Weston's is closed and I would have coffee at the inn but we've got a wedding there and the bride is going crazy and her mother-in-law is worse, she keeps tracking me down every five minutes to talk to me about bunting or tulle or flowers and I haven't had coffee since this morning at my house and I can't get two minutes to myself until now because this is my ten minute break and I used that ten minutes just driving around town trying to get a cup of coffee-"

The whole time, the woman had followed him around the diner as he cleared plates and delivered orders. Luke interrupted her. "Are you high?"

The woman shot him a look of indignation. "No, are you?"

"I'm not the one who's acting like she's strung out on crack." Luke retorted. "Sit down, shut up, and wait your turn."

"There's nowhere to sit." The woman said.

"Then stand, because it's not your turn yet." Luke went back to work, and the woman pouted.

"All I want is a cup of coffee. A very large cup of coffee." The woman said. "It'll take you two seconds."

"Wait your turn." Luke repeated.

The woman stood there for a few second, constantly looking around, tapping her fingers on her purse. Luke couldn't help but watch her out of the corner of his eyes. He wasn't completely convinced that she wasn't on some kind of drug. Either that, or she should be on one.

"Hey can I borrow that?" She asks one of the other customers, pointing at the paper.

"Stop bothering my customers." Luke said.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "I'm not bothering anyone."

A spot clears up at the counter, the seat closest to the register, and the woman take the paper over and sits, and starts reading the paper.

 _At least she's quiet,_ Luke thinks, and stands at the register to settle a bill.

"When's your birthday?" The woman asks suddenly.

The question takes him off-guard. "What?"

"You birthday." The woman repeated. "When is it?"

"Why the hell do you want to know my birthday?"

"I want to see what your sign is, see if there's a reason for your _mood_." She draws out the word mood, for comedic effect.

"There's not a reason, and I'm not in a mood." Luke snaps. "And those things are crap anyway, they're never accurate."

"But they're fun." The woman smiles at him, and that's first time he really looks at her. She has bright, genuine smile that seemed to intensify the blue of her eyes, and it almost makes him smile back.

Instead, he scowls at her. She continues talking regardless. "So if there's no reason for your mood, you're just grumpy all the time?"

"I am not grumpy. Who even says grumpy?"

"So tell me your birthday and prove me wrong." The woman said.

He huffed. "If I tell you my birthday, you'll stay quiet until I can take your order?"

She shrugs. "Sure."

"November."

"November what?"

"November seventeenth." Luke said a low tone. He didn't want other people knowing his birthday.

"November seventeenth." The woman repeated. "October November, here! You're a scorpio! You are, like, my polar opposite."

"In more ways than one." Luke said.

She's quiet for several more minutes, and Luke goes around to fill up waters and coffees. When he gets back to the counter, the woman is tearing something out to the paper. She looks up and hand the paper to him, and smiles again. He frowns at her.

"Read it." She insists. He does. It's his horoscope from the paper, and she's torn it out and written something on it.

 _You will meet an annoying woman today. Give her coffee and she'll go away._

Luke rolls his eyes as he sets the piece of paper on the counter, and reaches for a to go cup.

"Finally!" The woman said as he hands her the coffee. She pays and gets up to leave. When she gets to the door, however, she stops and turns to him.

"What now?" Luke asks.

"Keep it."

Now he's extremely confused. "What?"

"The horoscope. Keep it in your wallet or something."

"Why?"

The woman shrugged. "Maybe it'll bring you luck."

He was about to tell her he doesn't believe in luck, but she's gone as fast as she came in. Luke looked down at the scrap of paper on the counter, and then out the window again.

"Luke!" Caesar's voice refocused his attention. "Order up!"

"Right." Luke said. Without another thought, he took the paper and stuck it in the till, and didn't think about it for a week.


	2. The Return of The Annoying Woman

**Wednesday afternoon in June, 1996**

About a week after what Luke privately referred to as the 'Annoying Woman incident', a girl came into the diner, and sat down at the counter.

Normally, he didn't give any of his customers a second glance, not even kids (as long as they could pay and didn't make a mess), but he couldn't shake the feeling like there was something odd about this girl. Luke figured she couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen, blue eyed, brunette. A seemingly normal kid.

Still, a customer is a customer. Luke stood on the other side of the counter, order pad in his hands. "You got money?" He asked gruffly.

"What?" The girl looked confused. Something about her reminded him of the Annoying Woman. Which did nothing to improve his mood.

"If you want to order something, you have to have money." He said. "Kids come in here all the time and order food then try to skip out without paying, like it's a game or something. So, you got money?"

"Yeah I have money." The girl shot back. "What I don't have is a menu."

Luke reached beneath the counter and handed her a menu from the stack. "Here. I'll be back to take your order."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Mom's right, you _are_ grumpy."

"I am not _grumpy_." Luke said, and turned his attention to the coffee maker.

"Well, you _sound_ grumpy." Rory said under her breath. Luke ignored her, and kept working on the coffee.

A few minutes later, the door bell rang. Luke turned to see who came in. It was none other than the Annoying Woman. Luke braced himself for another round of the Annoying Woman's frenzied search for her next caffeine fix, but it didn't come. She came in and sat right down at the counter next to the girl, and they started chatting at pace that didn't seem humanly possible.

Luke raised his eyebrows a miscule amount, the only thing to betray his surprise, and realized why the girl had seemed so familiar. He supposed that the Annoying Woman was the girl's mother, though she looked awfully young to have a twelve year old. Then again, so did his sister. He shook his head, and went back to work.

Several minutes later, the Annoying Woman was trying to get his attention as he was clearing plates. "Hey, grumpy diner guy. We're ready to order."

"I'll be right there." He placed the dishes in a dish pan and started making change for another customer. "And stop calling me 'grumpy diner guy'. My name's Luke."

"Okay, _Duke_." The Annoying Woman said. "You do serve food here, right?"

"I'll be with you in a minute. Keep your pants on." He muttered, and went to give one of his customers his change back. "Here you go Taylor."

"Why, thank you Lucas." The elder man said. "Are you looking forward to the weekend?"

"Why would I be doing that?"

Taylor shrugged. "It's father's day weekend, and I could be very busy for the business community in Stars Hollow. I hope you hired extra help."

"No, actually I plan on closing up this weekend." Luke said sarcastically.

The other man looked aghast. "You're not really going to close, are you?"

Just then, the Annoying Woman was trying to get his attention again, waving a napkin dramatically. "Hey! Hello-oo! Burger boy!"

"Will you cut that out?" Luke snapped at her, and walked over to them, slower than he really needed to. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to ask about your burgers."

Luke shrugged. "It's a burger."

"Yes, but what's on it?"

"Burger patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions. Is that what you're ordering?"

"Sure, and some fries." The girl said.

"Can I get a burger without lettuce?" The annoying woman asked, a sly smile on her face.

"Sure." Luke annotated _w/o lettuce._

"Or tomato."

"Fine." _w/o tomato._

"Or pickles or onions?" The Annoying Woman continued. "And can you put some cheese on it?"

"Oh, I want cheese too, please." the girl said.

He glanced up at the Annoying Woman suspiciously. "That's a cheeseburger."

"A cheeseburger's a type of burger." The Annoying Woman said with a face that betrayed her false innocence.

"If you wanted a cheeseburger, why didn't you just order a cheeseburger?" Luke asked.

"I wanted a burger, so I ordered a burger. It just _happens_ to have cheese on it."

"No, you ordered a-" Luke stopped mid-sentence and narrowed his eyes at her. "You're messing with me."

The Annoying Woman just smiled and nodded.

Normally, he would have gotten mad. He would have ranted or yelled or took too long to make their food in the hopes they would just leave. But she smiled and her eyes turned bluer and he couldn't find it in himself to be mad at the Annoying Woman.

He bit back a smile and looked back down a the order pad. "Can I get a name? For the order."

"Lorelai." Good. The Annoying Woman had a name now.

"Your order will be ready in a minute, Lorelai." He went into the kitchen to get their food started.

"Can I get some coffee?" Lorelai asked when he came out again.

"That stuff'll kill you." Luke said.

"Yes, but not drinking it might also kill me, then poor Rory here," Lorelai wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulders, "My beautiful baby girl, only daughter Rory, will be an orphan. You wouldn't want that, would you grumpy diner guy?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't want that, would you?" Her daughter joined in.

Lorelai nudged her daughter's arm. "Give him the Rory face, sweetie."

Luke looked at the pair, both with pouting looks on their faces and matching blue eyes. He let out an exasperated sighed. He knew that he wasn't going to win.

"Stop calling me 'grumpy diner guy' and I'll get you your coffee." He bargained.

"I promise, I will not call you grumpy diner guy anymore." Lorelai said solemnly.

He gave her a warning look, and reached for the coffee.

"Yay!" Lorelai cheered. "Coffee!"

"Can I have coffee too?" Rory asked as he poured.

"No." Luke answered.

Lorelai glared at him playfully. "Excuse me, _mom_ , I make the decisions around here. Rory can have coffee if she wants to."

"Anywhere else, yes." Luke said. "But this is _my_ diner, and I make the rules for _my diner_ , and one of the rules is that nobody under the age of... sixteen gets coffee."

Rory frowned. "That's not fair."

"Yeah, well, life's not fair. Anyone who tells you that it is is selling you a pack of lies." Luke retorted.

"Hey, you better be nice to us." Lorelai pointed her finger at him. "Or we won't come back."

"I'll alert the media." Luke deadpanned.

Rory watched their exchange and giggled.

Lorelai kept talking, "So what are you going to ban next? No one under the age of ten can order dessert? Or are you going to tell people that they have to order vegetables with their fries? Are you going to refuse to serve people who just ate somewhere else? And do you have a copy of these so called diner rules so that people don't accidentally break one of them and bring your wrath down upon them?"

Luke turned to Rory, and pointed his thumb at her mother. "Is she always like this?"

Rory nodded. "Actually, you caught her on a good day. You should see her when she hasn't had any coffee."

Luke remembered Lorelai's visit from the previous week, and shook his head. He pointed back towards the kitchen. "I'm gonna go check on your food."

He caught a little bit of their conversation as he came back with their plates.

"-ming back. So what do you think? Pretty good, right?" Lorelai asked her daughter.

"Yeah, best in town. If his burgers are half as good, we'll have to start coming here more often."

Luke set their plates down in front of them. "Two cheeseburgers and fries, one with everything and one without."

"Thank you." Rory said, and happily started eating.

"You own this place?" Lorelai gestured around the diner. Luke nodded.

"Yeah, used to be my dad's."

"So is Luke your name or your dad's name?"

"I already told you my name was Luke."

"I thought you said Duke."

"No, I said Luke."

"Okay. Just a quick question, _Duke_. The William's Hardware sign out front - just for decoration?"

"No, it used to be a hardware store. I turned it into a diner."

"Isn't it kinda confusing for there to be two different signs for the same building?" Rory asked.

Luke crossed his arms uncomfortably. "It- it was my dad's sign. I mean, it was my dad's store, and that was the sign for the store, and after he... I just haven't taken the sign down yet."

An awkward silence settled over them, interrupted only by the sounds of the diner; the scrape of silverware, quiet conversation, and the quiet hum of the refrigerator in the background.

"So," Lorelai said, breaking the silence. "The decor - not a theme, just stuff leftover from the hardware store?"

"Yeah." Luke was relieved to have something else to talk about.

"I like it." Rory said.

"I like it too." Lorelai agreed. "It's... industrial kitsch."

Luke smiled at her. She smiled back, and looked as if she were going to say something else, when the door bell rang, and Luke excused himself to take their order.

Several more customers came in after that, and Luke was disappointed to see Lorelai and Rory getting ready to leave. He'd hoped he could get back and talk to them. Lorelai left money on the counter and she and Rory left.

Luke took the money and went to put it in the till. He spotted a piece of paper, and remembered the horoscope from the previous week. He looked out the window to watch the pair walk down the street.

 _The horoscope. Keep it in your wallet._

He took it out.

 _Maybe it'll bring you luck._

He took out his wallet, and put the horoscope in it. Just in case.


	3. Fathers and Paper Leaves

_I'd like to thank all of you for your comments, follows, and favorites. It means a great deal to me. Please, keep it up, it gives me the motivation to continue this story._

 _Now, I only have one or two more solid ideas for this story, and a couple more little ideas, but I'd really like to keep going, so if anyone has any suggestions for more, I'd be more than happy to entertain them. Anything that is set to take place prior to the series is fair game, though so far I've been mainly writing from Luke's POV._

* * *

 **Early November, 1996**

Lorelai came into the diner, and sat down next to Rory at the table near the door. Lorelai and Rory had become daily fixtures at Luke's, and today, like many other days, they were there for the show.

"What'd I miss?" Lorelai asked.

"Taylor want Luke to decorate the diner for Thanksgiving."

Lorelai scoffed. "Crazy man. Luke wouldn't even set out a pumpkin for Halloween, and Taylor thinks that he'd decorate for Thanksgiving?" She glanced around the diner. "Is that why there's construction paper leaves taped to the windows?"

Rory nodded. "Taylor was about halfway done when Luke caught him."

"How many times do I have to say no, Taylor?" Luke fumed. "Take those damn leaves off my windows!"

"Lucas," Taylor interrupted. "Your diner is in the middle of town, and you're the only one who _never_ decorates for the holidays. Not Christmas, not Easter, not Thanksgiving. You're right across from the Horn of Plenty. How do you think your unadorned diner reflects on the town?"

"Like I don't care about celebrating holidays, and I care about decorating for them even less." Luke started ripping the leaves off the windows himself.

Taylor followed him, still talking. "Lucas Danes, Every holiday, your mother would decorate the hardware storefront, and volunteer for town events, and even get your taciturn father to participate in certain town functions."

"Do you think Luke takes after his dad?" Rory whispered to her mother. Lorelai shushed her, not wanting to miss out on the interaction.

Luke glared at Taylor warningly and growled. "I don't wanna hear it, Taylor."

Taylor continued regardless of Luke's threatening manner. "And even after your mother died, your father-"

"Get out of my diner, Taylor!" Luke shouted, and disappeared into the kitchen.

"The spirit of Thanksgiving is truly lost on you, Lucas, and I, for one, pity you." Taylor shouted after him, then swiftly left the dinner.

Show over, Rory turned to her mother. "So what are _we_ doing for Thanksgiving? Are we having dinner at the inn again?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, there's a group who's booked the entire inn for Thanksgiving."

"Oh." Rory looked sad for a moment, and looked up hopefully. "What about Mia? She's invited us before."

"She's gonna be out of town that week. She's going to visit John and Laura, and the new baby. Remember, she showed us pictures."

Rory nodded. "That was one not ugly baby. She's almost cute."

"And going to get even cuter, as soon as the whole squished newborn face thing goes away." Lorelai could tell by her daughter's face that she was planning something. "You have an idea?"

"We could call dad?" Rory suggested hesitantly.

"We can try kiddo." Rory let out an excited squeal, and Lorelai quickly added. "But don't get your hopes up just yet, we might still be on our own this year."

Luke approached the table, having heard the tail end of their conversation. "On your own for what?"

"For Thanksgiving." Rory said excitedly. "We're going to try calling dad and see if he can come for dinner, which would be really cool since he's never been to Stars Hollow before."

Luke was surprised by the mention of Rory's dad, but easily hid his surprise with a frown. "Never? How long have you guys lived here?"

"Since I was about a year and a half old."

"You haven't seen your dad since you were a year old?" Luke asked, his shock evident on his face.

Lorelai spoke up quickly. "No, we see him sometimes at Christmas, sometimes Easter. Just not here."

"But we've never seen him at Thanksgiving, which is why I think I'd be a good idea to invite him this year. Wouldn't that be amazing?" Rory asked, turning to her mother.

Lorelai gave her daughter a small smile. "We'll see, honey. Do you know what you want?"

"Uh, yeah. Burger, and onion rings. I'll be right back." Rory was up and outside in a minute. Lorelai looked outside, and saw Rory running of to catch up with Lane. She turned her attention back to Luke when he started speaking.

"I'm guessing he travels a lot." Luke said flatly.

"Uh, yeah."

"Work?"

"Sort of. He just... moves a lot, trying to start a business of his own somewhere. He says that he's just trying to find something that "sticks". I'll try to call him, but I'm not even sure I have a current number for him."

Luke assured her. "I can't believe you've lived here almost eleven years and he's never been here."

"He knows where we are, and I tell him he's welcome anytime. The rest is up to him. When he does show up, he makes promises he can't keep, but Rory loves every minute of seeing him, so I guess you have to take the good with the bad."

Lorelai's voice got really quiet towards the end, as if she were talking more to herself than Luke. She was looking out the window again, and Luke followed her gaze to where Rory was talking excitedly to her friend.

"That's gotta be hard on you guys." Luke said quietly. "Especially Rory, not having her dad around."

When he spoke, it seemed to bring Lorelai's mind back to then and there. She shrugged. "It's just par for the course when it comes to Christopher. He means well, he really does, but he's never there for the fallout after he leaves. That sentence sounded stupid, but you know what I mean."

Luke thought briefly of Rachel, and gave a brief nod, swallowing back the pain. "Yeah, I know how that feels."

She smiled at him. "Anyway, thanks for listening. You didn't have to."

Luke waved dismissively. "Well, what are friends for?"

She smiled at him weirdly, and he couldn't figure out why, until she said, "We're friends?"

Luke felt his cheek begin to redden. "Well, I mean, we've known each other for a while, you come in here everyday, and I talk to you and Rory all the time, so-" As soon as he realized he was rambling, he stopped mid-sentence and took a breath before continuing. "What I mean is, I consider you a friend, even if you don't consider _me_ a friend." He finally managed.

He stood watching her, and felt the muscles in his chest tense as he waited for a response. After what felt like ages, she flashed him a big, genuine, eye-bluening Lorelai smile. "I consider you a friend too."

Luke felt the heat from his cheeks started to dissipate. "You do?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, you're a grump, but you do usually take a minute and ask how our day's going, you listen to me ramble about the inn and Rory's school and my family, even if you're not really paying attention to me."

Luke opened his mouth to say that he always pays attention to her, until he was struck by the realization that he didn't know _why_ he did. Lorelai continued talking, distracting him from his thoughts and the increasingly tense feeling that had taken up residence in his chest.

"I mean, I know I tease you a lot, but you know that I mean it with the best intentions, right?" She looked at him, and Luke realized he was still staring at her eyes.

"Uh, right." Luke agreed sharply. "So did you wanna order or what?"

Lorelai, taken aback by the swift change in conversation, briefly looked confused. "Just coffee for me, I think, and Rory wanted-"

"-Burger and onion rings." Luke repeated the girl's order, and twitched a smile at Lorelai. "Already wrote it down."

"You're a good friend, Duke."

His smile disappeared completely. "Call me Duke again, I'm getting you decaf."

She sat up straighter and looked extremely serious. "Right, sorry. Won't happen again."

As he walked away, he heard her add, very quietly, "Duke."

 _Decaf is it._

* * *

Luke sat at his usual table at Sniffy's, sipping on a beer, and staring at the scrap of paper in his hand. He'd long since memorized the words, which wasn't hard since there weren't very many of them, but he couldn't stop reading them, turning them over in his mind, and the words she'd said after.

"You get some girl's phone number, Lucas?"

He looked up to see Maisy sit down at the table next to him. He self-consciously folded up the paper and put it back in his wallet. "Not exactly."

She looked at him critically. "Well, as soon as you meet someone, you know you have to bring them here. Buddy and I want to meet her."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Mais..."

"You never did bring Rachel here. Or Anna before that." She reminded him. "You said you would."

"Anna and I only went out for a few months." Luke defended. "And Rachel, she left. She was always gone, even when she was here."

"The whole two years that you were together-"

"One and a half." Luke interrupted.

"You were together for two years, you only lived together for one and a half." Maisy told him. "You never went out to dinner? Ever?"

"It just didn't work out, Maisy." Luke sighed, and started picking at the label on his beer bottle. " _We_ didn't work. She's a... an "anywhere but here" girl and I'm a stay-at-home nobody."

"Lucas Danes!" Maisy scolded him. "You are not a nobody, and staying at home never hurt anyone. Your father was a homebody too. You and your dad, you always liked your routines. You were like that as a baby, you've been like that your whole life. Any girl who can't figure that out isn't worth knowing."

He smiled weakly at her. "I'll remember that."

She gave him a sharp nod, then changed the subject. "Are you gonna be here on Thankgiving?"

He shrugged. "Probably, after I close the diner. I tried calling Liz but her boyfriend picked up. I think he was drunk or something, I'm not sure if she'll ever get the message."

She shook her head. "I hope nothing happens to that girl, or that little boy of hers. Bill would come back to haunt us if it did."

"There's only so much I can do until she decides she wants my help, Mais."

"I'm not blaming you, Lucas. You do what you can where you can. All I was saying was that your dad just had a bit of a blind spot when it came to Lizzy. He'd do anything to protect her."

"Except protecting her from herself." Luke muttered, and took another drink.

Maisy rose from the table. "See if you can get Lizzy and Jess to come to Thanksgiving dinner, I'd love to see them again. We'll leave a spot open for you just in case."

"You know, you don't have to do that."

She wouldn't take no for an answer. "Buddy and I will always leave a place for you at our home, and our restaurant, Lucas. You're as good as family, and don't you forget that."

"You wouldn't let me." Luke grumbled, but smiled at her.

She smiled back at him fondly. "Your food should be out soon, unless Buddy changed his mind again. Pop your head in the kitchen before you leave."

"I will." Luke promised, and watched her walk back to the kitchen. When she was gone, Luke pulled out the horoscope and looked at it again. He thought about how many time he'd been there over the years, with his parents and his sister. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries. This is where they held the wake for his mom, and his dad some years later. The many lonely breakfasts and dinners since then.

 _Maybe it'll bring you luck._

He hoped it would. He hoped that maybe someday, he'd get lucky, and wouldn't find it so hard to let people in.

Luke sighed and took another drink of beer. Yeah, maybe.


	4. Happy Thanksgiving

_Oh, boy, this is another long chapter, but I just couldn't split it up anymore than this. Most future chapters should be shorter than this one, I swear. Unless you guys like the longer chapters._

 _Nancy, I've been loving your comments. And I apologize in advance. You'll see why. But I want you to know that this story is canon compliant, and Chris will not actually come to Stars Hollow in this story. No townies in this chapter, but that's only because I had the first draft of this and the next chapter already written. I've just started working on the chapter after next though, so we might see a few other Stars Hollow residents pop in. _

_Like I said before, I am open to suggestions. What characters do you want to see more of? Any questions that still haven't been answered to your satisfaction? Let me know!_

* * *

About a week before Thanksgiving, Rory came into the diner. She sat at a table and pulled out a book, just like everyday. But something made Luke look twice at the girl. Rory looked like she'd just been crying, or was about to cry. Luke was unsure of what to do. He'd never had to deal with a sad kid before, let alone a sad Rory. Just the idea unnerved him.

He debated with himself about what he should do. Should he ask what was wrong? Should he act like everything was normal? Should he wait for Lorelai to show up and ask her? She'd probably know what was wrong. He briefly considered calling Lorelai at work, until he remembered he didn't know what the number for the inn was.

After some time, Luke realized that Rory had yet to turn a single page of her book, and decided that it was time to check up on her. Still unsure of what to say, he approached her table.

"Hey, Rory." He smiled warmly at her.

Rory didn't say anything, just gave him a polite smile and went back to her book.

Luke tried again. "Is your mom meeting you here?"

She nodded, not even looking up this time, her face resolutely staring at the same page. She still hadn't said a single word to him, and it worried him.

"You want order something?" He asked. "Burger, fries, pie?"

She shook her head.

Luke tried one final option to get her to talk. "Not even coffee?"

Finally, she looked up at him, eyes wide in surprise. "You never let me have coffee."

He smiled at her in relief. "Well, don't tell your mom. She'd never let me hear the end of it. But you looked pretty down about something, and coffee always seems to cheer your mom up, so…"

Rory nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I'd like some coffee."

"I'll be right back." He got her coffee (decaf, of course), and went back to the table. "On the house."

"Thanks." She picked up the cup and took a sip.

"Don't mention it. Let me know if you need anything else."

He started to head back to the counter, when Rory spoke up again. "My dad called."

Luke turned back, slightly surprised that Rory was wanting to talk. "Yeah?"

"He left a message on the machine." Rory cradled the oversized coffee cup in both hands, staring into it. "He said that he couldn't make it for Thanksgiving and that he'd already made plans. Skiing somewhere with a bunch of his friends. And some woman named Denise, I guess that's his new girlfriend."

Luke shook his head in disgust, but kept silent as Rory continued to talk.

"He won't cancel a stupid skiing trip to spend time with his kid on Thanksgiving. He can ski anytime, but he can't set aside some time to come and visit us?" She started tearing up again, but blinked them back angrily.

Luke's heart began to break for her. "I'm sorry, Rory. I know you were looking for to seeing your dad."

"I really was. I haven't seen him in forever."

"Yeah, you're mom was saying that he travels a lot, for work." Luke said.

"Yeah, he does." Rory sighed. "It's just... I don't know."

"What?"

Rory looked up at him with tear reddened eyes. "Do you think it's stupid to be angry at him?"

"Well-"

"I mean, he's my dad, and I love him, but he keeps doing stuff like this. And I know that it happens even more often than I'm supposed to know, because Mom just gets this really sad look on her face, and I can tell when she's been crying. She tries so hard to hide it from me, but I can tell. And I wish that could fix it. I wish I could find a way to make him stick around. And then I get so mad at him for... I don't know, leaving I guess. And i just don't know what to do. I just hate seeing mom get so hurt."

Luke's heart was split between endearment and anger. Endearment in the fact that both Lorelai and Rory cared more for the fact that her dad's leaving hurt the other more than themselves. And anger toward the guy for making them feel that way.

Luke put aside his thoughts and focused on Rory, sitting down at the table across from her. "You know, Rory, it's not your job to fix things. Especially stuff like this. Sometimes, people just..." Luke tried to find the right words. "Some people are just not made to stay in one place. And it's not anybody's fault, it just how they are. But that doesn't mean you don't get to feel angry."

"I don't like being mad at people."

"Rory, look. Dads aren't perfect. Even if you guys had the greatest relationship in the world, he'd probably still do stuff that makes you angry. I mean, you get mad at your mom sometimes, right?"

"I guess." Rory looked up at him. "Did you get mad at your dad?"

"Oh yeah. And I know I did plenty of things to make him mad. But in the end, none of that matters. He's still your dad."

"Yeah." Rory agreed. Then she looked up with an inquiring look. "What happened to your dad?"

Luke wasn't prepared for this. He sat silent for a bit before Rory spoke up again.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Rory said quickly. "I was just wondering"

"No, no, it's fine." Luke assured her. "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. What do you want to know?"

"You said before that this used to be his hardware store. Did you inherit it from him?"

"Yeah, I did." Luke said.

"What happened to him?"

"My junior year in high school, he... he got sick. He was sick for a long time, and after a while, he... He's been gone seven years this month."

After a moment, Rory asked quietly, "Do you miss him?"

"Yeah." Luke said.

"Were you close?"

Luke had to think about it for a second. "Yeah, we were. Not like you and your mom. We hardly ever really talked, but we understood each other. We were a lot alike and we got along. _Mostly_."

Rory laughed a little, and Luke smiled at her. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I guess." Rory said. "Thanks for the talk."

"Anytime." Luke rose from the table.

"And, for, you know, talking about your dad." Rory added quietly. "I know you don't like to."

Luke smiled a little at her. "Yeah, well, sometimes it's good. Let me know if you need anything else."

* * *

A bit later, Lorelai arrived. Luke glanced up from the receipts at the counter. "I'll be with you in a minute."

Lorelai nodded, and joined her daughter at the table. They were soon caught up in lively discussion of some kind, and Luke focused on the receipts in front of him, and failed to notice that Lorelai had approached the counter.

"Hey, you!" She said.

"I said I'd be with you in a minute."

"I cannot believe you." Lorelai said in mock anger. "You served my daughter _coffee_. What happened to "no one under sixteen gets coffee", huh?"

Luke put down his pen. "There is no way you can prove that _I_ served it."

Lorelai kept on. "Decaf, no less. I can't believe that you served my daughter coffee, and I wasn't even the real stuff."

He crossed his arms defiantly. "There's no way that you can _prove_ it's decaf."

Lorelai crossed her arms, mirroring him. "I can smell the difference." She said smugly.

"You cannot _smell_ the difference." He scoffed. "And, even if there was there's no way you can prove that I-"

"Rory already told."

Luke shot a glance at Rory, who just shrugged at him helplessly. He looked back at Lorelai with an equal measure of defeat. "Alright, fine, I did."

"Why?" Lorelai asked, dropping the fake anger. "We've known you for months. We see you everyday, and _every day_ , Rory asks for coffee, and you say no. Why today?"

Luke glanced over at Rory again to make sure she couldn't hear, then leaned toward Lorelai, so that he could talk quieter. "She said her dad called."

Just for an instant, Luke saw a flood of emotions cross her face. He automatically turned around, grabbed the coffee pot and started pouring a cup for her. She sighed and sat the counter, hanging her head. "Crap. I was hoping that she'd come straight here after school."

"Rory told me what he said." Luke shook his head in disgust. "That guy's a piece of work."

"Yeah, I know." Lorelai massaged her temples with one hand. "Can I get some coffee?"

Luke pushed the already poured cup toward her and she took a drink, cradling the cup in both hands, staring at the liquid. Luke smiled briefly, thinking about the fact that Rory had done the exact same thing earlier.

Luke felt bad for her, and for Rory. It was holidays, your spend time with your family in the holidays. That's just the way things worked. Or the way they _should_ work. His family used to have traditions, the most important of which was being together. And he hadn't even been able to do that the last few years, and now neither could Lorelai and Rory. The more he thought about both his and Lorelai's situations, the more upset he became.

"I just- I cannot believe this guy." Luke said, now fuming.

"It's fine, Luke." Lorelai said. "I told you, that's just how it is with him."

"No, it's not fine!" He tried to keep his voice level, but anger still crept in.

"Luke, calm down."

He continued, not really hearing her. "He's her father. He should be there, on a regular basis, not _sometimes_ on holidays."

Lorelai placed a hand on his arm, tethering him back to reality. "Luke, I know this. Rory knows this. But Christopher doesn't, or at least he doesn't seem to. And there's nothing I can do about that right now."

Luke took a deep breath, calming himself as she talked. "Yeah, I know. It's not any of my business. Forget I said anything. Do you want something to eat?"

"No, I'm not really hungry." She looked at him, concern written on her features. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Luke muttered. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, you just seem bugged."

Luke tried to shake off her questions. "Ah, nothing. It's just, you know, Taylor's been bugging me."

"I know, but you seem even more bugged than usual. Even considering Taylor."

He looked at her, and briefly considered telling her. Surely, she'd notice when he disappeared. Most people did, not that they'd directly say anything about it. But he couldn't bring himself to say the words.

"It's just... the holidays." Luke gestured to the decorated storefronts across the street. "Families should spend the holidays together. I mean, you know I don't really celebrate, but that's what they're for, right?"

She nodded. "Right."

"Right." Luke echoed.

"So, you don't celebrate at all?" She asked. "You don't have any extended family visiting?"

"No. I mean, I've got family, but they're not coming. They've all got their own plans. Besides, I have the diner, so..."

"You're going to spend Thanksgiving working?" Lorelai looked shocked. "That's sad."

"It's fine." Luke waved dismissively. "I make dinner here. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing. All the traditional fixings."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I've been doing it for a while now."

"I guess that's something. Still sad though." She smiled at him, a sad but genuine smile.

Luke found himself staring at her eyes for what felt like several seconds too long, and quickly started to wipe down the counter, just to give his hands and eyes something else to do. "So, do _you_ have any other Thanksgiving plans in the works?"

Lorelai made a face. "We've been invited to the Kims. We'll probably go, but they always serve tofurky."

"Toe-what?" Luke laughed.

"Turkey, made with tofu."

"How do you make turkey with tofu?"

She smiled at him. "You can't."

They laughed. Then Luke had an idea. "Hey, why don't you come by the diner for Thanksgiving."

Lorelai sat up a little. "Really?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, you're always in the diner anyway, and it sounds like your plans for Thanksgiving are kinda light. I mean, you don't have to." Luke added quickly.

"No, we'll go." Lorelai assured him. "We were planning on having a festive burger and fries after we hit the Kim's, but, what the hell, let's have turkey."

"You know, I think that's what the pilgrims said." He joked.

"Really, I thought it was something more like, "hey, let's steal this land and name it after ourselves. Uh, pass the gravy"."

They both laughed.

"So, see you for Thanksgiving?" Lorelai said.

Luke nodded. "See ya." He watched Lorelai go back over to the table and fill Rory in on their Thanksgiving plans.

He felt good. Happier than he had all week. For the first time in a while, he was actually looking forward to Thanksgiving.

* * *

 _This was a hard chapter for me, it took forever. I was so worried that Luke might be out of character (still am), but I had trouble writing this chapter any other way. Anyway, I hope I did it justice._


	5. Happy Thanksgiving, Part 2

_Bonus chapter! Enjoy!_

 _I don't know when I'm going to get the next chapter up. I'm hoping I can keep to the marginally weekly schedule I seem to have been sticking to, though._

* * *

Thanksgiving day, Luke was busy clearing a table when Lorelai and Rory arrived at the dinner on Thanksgiving day, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!" Lorelai said loudly.

"Quit shouting, will ya? You're annoying my customers." He groused. He turned to Rory, putting aside his usual grumpy demeanor somewhat. "Hey, Rory, how's your Thanksgiving so far?"

"Great, other than the fact that Mrs. Kim made us eat tofurky." Rory wrapped her arms around her stomach, pretending to have a stomachache.

Luke laughed a little. "Sit down, I'll bring you your food."

"But we haven't ordered anything yet, Duke." Lorelai said jokingly.

He shot her a look. "Stop calling me Duke, or you get nothing but bread and water."

He turned to go to the kitchen, but Lorelai stopped him. "Waitwaitwait, take your flowers."

Luke accepted the bouquet skeptically. "You got me flowers?"

"Of course." Lorelai said.

"Why did you get me flowers?"

"Because," Lorelai said matter-of-factly, "When you are invited to dinner, it is polite to bring a token of appreciation, like flowers."

"But what do I do with them?"

Rory piped up. "Traditionally, people put them in a vase with water."

"I don't have a vase."

"How can you not have a vase?" Lorelai asked incredulously.

"I don't buy flowers." He held the flowers up to look at them. They smelled nice at least.

"And no one's ever bought _you_ flowers?"

"I'm a guy, people don't usually give guys flowers."

"But flowers are pretty." Lorelai said. "They make you happy. You've _never_ bought flowers to decorate your place?"

"I don't decorate." Luke said flatly. "And buying cut flowers is stupid. You pay twenty dollars for a bunch of plants that were shipped halfway across the country, which wastes fossil fuels that produce noxious fumes that erode away at the ozone layer, raising the temperature of the planet, making it _more_ expensive to raise flowers that they go on sell at inflated prices that die in three days anyway!"

The was a momentary silence in the diner after Luke's rant, which Lorelai broke.

"But they're pretty!" She said sweetly.

Luke sighed, and shook his head in resignation. "I'll be back with your food."

As he walked away, still carrying the flowers, he heard Rory talking to Lorelai as they sat down.

"I told you we should've gotten him something else."

"Who doesn't like flowers?" Lorelai said indignantly.

"Luke apparently. He doesn't even have a vase."

"Well, I guess we know what to get him for Christmas, don't we?"

Luke rolled his eyes, disappeared in the kitchen. He grabbed a spare water pitcher, filling it partway with water and stuck the flowers in it. They were slightly too tall, which made them tilt to one side. He carried out the pitcher of flowers along with Lorelai and Rory's plates and set on the table. Lorelai smiled smugly at Rory, but did not say a word, much to Luke's great relief.

"Let me know if you need anything else." Luke turned to leave, but was stopped by Lorelai grabbing his wrist.

"Hey, aren't you gonna eat with us?" Lorelai asked, still holding onto him.

"I'll eat later." He said, but made no move to shake off Lorelai's hand.

"Sit with us." Rory insisted.

"I don't-"

"Please, Luke?"

"Yeah, come on." Lorelai said. "The thought of you sitting and eating all alone is just too sad. Unless you don't _want_ to eat with us."

"It's not that I don't want to." Luke said quickly. "I just have customers, and I don't want to intrude on your Thanksgiving meal..."

"Luke, we wouldn't be having Thanksgiving if it weren't for you." Lorelai told him. "At least, not one that has real turkey. If it were just us, we'd probably just get burgers and takeout and watched movies all day. Besides, it looks like everyone already has food, and if any more customers come in, you can jump up and serve them, then come back and eat with us. We won't mind."

He briefly considered the invitation. He'd been planning on closing early and stopping by Sniffy's. He'd probably still be eating alone, but Maisy and Buddy would always find a few minutes for him here and there. He felt that he owed it to them to at least stop by.

But then again, it was Rory and Lorelai asking, and for some reason, he found it incredibly difficult to say no to them. "Well..."

"Don't make us beg, Luke." Rory pleaded. "It would not be pretty."

"You're sure you don't mind?" Luke confirmed.

"Yes, we're sure." Lorelai nodded emphatically. "Now go get yourself a plate and get back here!"

"And some extra marshmallows?" Rory asked hopefully.

Luke smiled at them. "Fine. Can I have my hand back?"

"Oh, yeah." Lorelai quickly released his arm, slightly sheepish, as if she'd forgotten that she was holding onto him. As he walked back to the kitchen to get his own plate, he briefly wondered if she really _had_ forgotten she was holding onto him, and blushed slightly at the passing thought that he hadn't minded at all.

The meal was an extremely pleasant one. They talked and laughed, or at least Lorelai and Rory laughed, and Luke smiled more than usual. Lorelai and Rory kept up a steady stream of banter, and Luke joined in where he could. They had seconds, and thirds. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd _really_ celebrated Thanksgiving.

Eventually, though, it got late, and Lorelai asked for the check. Normally, he did charge people for Thanksgiving dinner (it was a diner, not a soup kitchen). But today, Lorelai and Rory, they weren't just his customers. They were his friends.

While they were getting ready to leave, he wrote something down, and left it at their table, then disappeared into the storeroom, knowing that if he stuck around Lorelai would insist on paying.

He watched through the hole in the wall of the storeroom as Lorelai read his note and looked around for Luke. Then shaking her head and smiling, she read the note again, before handing it off to Rory, and guiding the two of them out of the diner, and back to their house.

 _Lorelai, Rory, t_ _hanks for coming to dinner. It's on the house. This has been the most fun I've had in a while._

 _Happy Thanksgiving._

 _ _Oh, and, thanks for buying me flowers. But next year, don't.__

* * *

 _Okay, finally, we see the origin point of the infamous (in my mind anyway) Thanksgiving Flower argument. I've wanted to do this for a long time and now it's done._

 _Please, please, please comment/like! Suggestions, errors, anything! It gives me motivation to continue the story to know that people like my writing._


	6. April Fools Day Blizzard

_Okay, you know what? I'm done. I'm done trying to write short chapters, mainly cause it's not working. From now on, the chapters are just going to be as long or as short as the chapters need to be._

 _A few more townspeople in this chapter. I'm finding it really hard to come up with things to write that include more than just Luke, Lorelai, and Rory. Anyone got any ideas?_

* * *

Luke woke up in a bad mood on the morning of April first, just like every year since he'd opened the diner. Every year, without fail, there would be at least one punk who would prank him, or one of his customers. It was one of the drawbacks to living and working across from a high school.

He rolled out of bed with a groan, and shoved his feet into his slippers. It had been an unseasonably cold spring, and it seemed like it was just another in a series of even colder mornings. Until he looked out the window into a white world.

"What the..."

* * *

Lorelai was all smiles when she walked into the diner on April first, which, for once, did not improve Luke's mood. Luke came over to her table wearing a scowl.

"Good morning!" She said cheerily. "Isn't is a beautiful day?"

Luke's scowl deepened. "Order or leave."

"Wow. Your face really _can_ stick like that."

"Lorelai, I don't have the time or energy to deal with you today, so I'll say it again. Order or leave."

"Okay, Mr. Grumpypants. Coffee and pancakes with sausage. What is with you?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, so you just woke up like this?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

"I'll get you your coffee. For here or to go?"

"For here."

Luke brought back a mug full of hot coffee, and pushed it toward Lorelai, who's been staring dreamily out the window. "Here."

She eagerly picked up the mug and sipped it. "Mmm. Bless you. You know, when I told Rory last night that I smelled snow, she thought I was crazy."

"You are crazy. You can't _smell_ snow."

Lorelai pointed a thumb at herself. _"I_ can."

"No, you can't. You also can't smell the difference between decaf and regular coffee."

"Yes, I can. Want me to prove it?"

"No."

"So then you forfeit?"

"What? No!"

"Well that's how it works. You don't want to challenge me, so therefore you forfeit."

"I don't have time for this." He started to storm off, but Lorelai stopped him.

"Hey, what is wrong with you? Look outside, it's a beautiful, unexpectedly snowy day. How can you be so angry when it's so beautiful out?"

"Because snow is just irritating, cold, white stuff that falls out of the sky." Luke's anger hit boiling point. "It breaks branches, causes damages and accidents. You can't get anywhere without having to shovel a path, and if you don't, the snow melts and seeps into your pants and boots and socks until your feet are so numb you can't even feel the cold anymore. And when the rest of it finally melts, it leaks into your house and then you have to go and find the stupid leaks, which is dangerous and time-consuming, and god forbid it rains before the repairs are done, because then you just have to go back out there again and again and again until you're so fed up with it that you call a real roof repair guy and get the job done for three times as it would have if you could have fixed the damn thing yourself!"

"And time!" Lorelai shouted. "Wow. I think that you now hold the record for longest rant ever."

"Stop it."

"You may even have me beat." Lorelai smiled at him. "I'm very impressed."

Having ranted to Lorelai, his mood began to thaw, and tried to hide it. "Knock it off."

"So now that you've ranted, don't you feel a little better?"

He looked at her ruefully. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Okay, "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response"..." She paused. "-is a response."

"Okay, I'm gone." He went back to the kitchen, shoving the coffee pot back on the machine as he passed it.

"Don't forget my pancakes!" Lorelai shouted after him.

* * *

"Here you go." He placed a plate in front of Lorelai.

"Thank you." Lorelai started eating. "So why do you hate the snow so much?"

"I don't hate the snow." Luke said. "Mostly. It's just that, it's April. There's snow outside, and people have been tracking it in here all day. Three different kids thought it'd be funny to run in here and through snowballs at me."

Lorelai let out a little laugh.

"Hey, it wasn't funny. Especially the last one, it was half slush, I had to change my shirt. And they hurt." He rubbed his chest where it had hit him.

"I'm sorry." Lorelai apologized. "You're right, slushballs are not funny."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, I probably had it comin'. I did plenty of that stuff when I was in high school."

"Ooh, bad boy Luke, I'd like to see that." Lorelai grinned at him suggestively, and he felt uncomfortable with how much he enjoyed seeing her smile like that.

"Uh, c-can I get you anything else?" He asked quickly.

Lorelai, seemingly noting his discomfort, dialed back to a polite smile. "Yes, more coffee please."

Luke went back to get the coffee pot from behind the counter. All of a sudden, the power went out, and Luke's anger came back in full force. He slammed the coffeepot down on the counter so hard, it cracked. Several splinters of glass flew off, and liquid started to seep from the cracks.

"I hate the damn snow!"

* * *

A short time later, after the diner had cleared out, Babette came by and knocked on the window until Luke let her in.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

"Taylor's called a meetin' of some kind, thought you'd like to know. Probably something to do with the power outages all over town. Are ya comin'?"

Luke sighed. "Yeah, I guess."

When Luke got there, the meeting hadn't started yet, and it was freezing. Taylor and Harry were at the podium talking as people gathered and waited. He went over to Miss Patty.

"Why is it so cold in here, I thought you had a gas heater."

She shrugged. "It's got an electric ignition. I should've gotten a generator months ago."

Finally, Harry sat down and Taylor took a place at the podium and swung the gavel. "Alright, I call this emergency town meeting to order. Now, as you may all have noticed, Mother Nature has left us a little April Fools day present for us, and has by now caused a town-wide power outage."

"Yeah, we noticed." Bootsy shouted.

"Can we move this along? It's freezing!" Someone else piped up. Several people voiced their agreement. Taylor kept talking.

"We've been in contact with the power company, and they said that the power will be back on no sooner than noon tomorrow."

A chorus of groans arose from the room. Taylor kept on. "They did, however, assure me that the power will be back on my tomorrow night. Now, we in Stars Hollow are made from stubborn stock, and I believe that we can all rise up above nature and conquer this like every other challenge that this town has had to face."

"Can we go home now, or do you wanna keep listening to the sound of your own voice?" Luke asked. Several people chimed in on Luke's question.

"Yeah, I've gotta get home and make sure my pipes don't freeze."

"I have to chip the ice off my car, I've got work tonight!"

"Actually, there are several important matters to discuss." Taylor nodded at him. "Many people have snowed into their homes without heat, including some of our more senior Stars Hollow residents. We need some volunteers to go and check on them, shovel their walks, make sure they have working heat, et cetera. Preferably those that volunteer will have snow shovels as we do not yet have a town supply of snow and ice supplies as I have repeatedly said we need to-"

Patty interrupted. "This is not the time, Taylor!"

"Yeah." Morey piped up from the back of the room. "Save it for your campaign."

"Yeah, save the lectures for when we're not freezing our tuchuses off." Babette added.

"I don't think there's a plural form of tuchus." Patty said.

Taylor banged the gavel a few time to get people's attention. "Excuse me, could we get back to the matter at hand?"

Bootsy ignored him. "Tuchus is already a plural word, like fish."

"But I thought fishes was the plural word for fish?"

"Oh for the love of god!" Luke stood up. "Anyone with a snow shovel, go get it and meet back here in a half an hour. We'll figure out where to go from there. Someone find out what houses are snowed in the worst so we can get to them first."

Miss Patty spoke up. "If someone's got a generator, we could get the heater in here up and running and we could use this a headquarters."

"I've got a generator." Andrew said.

"Go get it." Luke said. He turned to the rest of the room. "And just for the record, both fish and fishes are the correct plural terms for fish!"

* * *

The numbers of volunteers grew throughout the day until there were enough people to shovel most of the town. By five o'clock, the majority of people in the town had their walks shoveled and made safe. Luke and a few others were still out shoveling other people's walks and stuff after all the others that Taylor had been concerned had been taken care of. Eventually, they came around to Morey and Babette's house, and started clearing the snow.

As they were working, one of the guys asked, "Hey, Morey, ain't that Lorelai's house?"

"Yeah." Morey said.

Luke stood up and looked at the house. It was blue, with white trim. It was a nice slightly older house. The snow around it was mostly untouched, apart a pair of tracks leading from the front door to the road that wound up the sidewalk, toward town.

"We should probably shovel her walk too while we're here." Luke thought out loud.

"Okay." Morey said.

They had just finished shoveling a path to the house when Rory came walking home from school.

"Hi, Morey." Rory looked over and saw Luke. "Luke?"

"Hey, Rory." Luke paused a moment to lean on his shovel. "How was school?"

"It was good. It's weird to see you outside of the diner like this. I thought you lived there."

"I don't actually live at the diner." Luke said. "I live in the apartment _above_ the diner."

Rory's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, you _actually_ live at the diner?"

"No, I don't. I just said. I live in the apartment _above_ the diner."

She shrugged. "Same thing, isn't it?"

"Sure, I guess." He conceded.

"That's really convenient, to live where you work. Mom and I used to live at the inn, in a little cottage at the back of the property?"

"The one by the pond? I know it."

Rory looked surprised. "You do? How?"

"I've known Mia since… Well, Mia and my mom were friends forever, so I've probably know Mia since I was born. My dad used to help repair stuff out there at the inn."

"Yeah, cause you mentioned he owned a hardware store."

"And worked construction before that."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Everything I know about woodworking, repairs, tools, hard work, I learned from him." Luke looked at the house again, and pointed at the chimney. "Have you guys got a working fireplace?"

"Why?"

"Well, the power's gonna be out until tomorrow, and God only knows when the temperature's gonna rise above freezing. I just thinking that you guys should probably get a fire going now so that when you go to sleep later, the house is warm."

"Wow." Rory said.

Luke turned to her. "Wow what?"

"I think that's the most words I've heard you say in a row."

Luke glared at her reprovingly. "You are your mother's daughter."

Rory just laughed. "The fireplace should work. We don't use it very often. Mainly because don't know how."

"You think your mom mind if you let me in so I could build a fire for you guys?"

"No, I don't think so." Rory smiled at him. "Actually, I think she'd love it."

"We've got some firewood to spare, if you need it." Morey volunteered.

* * *

Awhile later, Luke heard someone at the door of Lorelai's house.

"Rory?" Lorelai called from the door.

"We're in the living room!" Rory shouted back.

"Who we?" Lorelai asked as she took off her coat.

"Luke's here."

Lorelai walked into the living room to see Luke by the fireplace, and Rory on the other side of the room by the window with her arms wrapped around herself.

"What are you guys doing?" Lorelai asked.

"Luke's teaching me how to build a fire." Rory said.

Lorelai frowned. "Should you be over near the fireplace then?"

Luke stood up to talk to her. "There was a spider on the wood. I took care of it, but she won't come any closer than the couch."

Lorelai shrugged. "What can you do, she's scared of spiders."

"I'm not scared of spiders." Rory glared at her mother. "I just want to him them their space, that all. And besides, you're one to talk. You wouldn't change the lightbulb on the porch for a week when a moth got inside the cover. You made Morey do it."

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"You won't change your lightbulb either!"

"I just burnt out yesterday!"

Luke interrupted. "Do you have a lighter or matches?"

They turned to look at him. "Huh?"

"The fire's ready, I just need a lighter or something."

"Yeah, in the kitchen. Come on." Lorelai walked into the kitchen and Luke followed. "So how do you know how to build a fire anyway?"

"My dad used to take us all out camping. I was about Rory's age when my dad first taught me how to build a fire."

"Cool." She said as she dug around a kitchen drawer. "When I was Rory's age, my dad more or less ignored me, unless I was in trouble or something."

"Oh." Luke wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. It's not like him and I had a lot in common. Anytime we did try to talk, it usually turned into a fight." She handed Luke a box of matches. "Here."

"Thanks." He went back into the living room. Lorelai stood behind him as he lit the newspaper on fire.

"Oh, that's cool, you made a little teepee with the wood." Lorelai said.

"Yeah the important thing is to let the fire breath, stacking it like that lets air in and around the fire." Luke explained. "There are three things you need to make a fire."

"Air, fuel, and an ignition source." Rory said, remembering what he'd taught her earlier.

Luke smiled at her proudly, and nodded. "Right."

He looked over at Lorelai. She was smiling warmly at him. He smiled back at her.

Their moment ended when Rory walked past them on her way to the kitchen. "I'm gonna see if we have any marshmallows."

"I better get back to the diner." Luke excused himself.

"Okay." Lorelai said. "See ya."

"See ya." Luke said. "Oh, and I don't know if anyone's told you yet, Taylor said that the power's gonna be back on some time tomorrow. Think you'll be alright till then?"

"Yeah, I think we can manage." She said.

"Alright, I showed Rory how to keep the fire going, but if you can leave it alone for a couple hours before you really have to do anything to it. Call me, if you need anything. "

"Thanks Luke. Stay warm."

* * *

The few days later, after the power was back on and the diner was open again, Lorelai came in carrying a basket, and walked up to Luke at the counter. "Hey."

He looked up. "Hey. Coffee?"

"Please." She sat down. "So I just wanted to say thank you again. We might have frozen to death if it weren't for you."

"Ah, it was nothing. If I hadn't done it, you probably would have asked someone else to help. Morey, probably."

Lorelai smiled at him. "Yeah. Still. It was nice, and you didn't have to. Oh!" She set the basket on the counter and pushed it toward him. "Here. Rory and I made these for you."

Luke frowned and opened the basket to reveal a dozen or so brownies. Or at least, he guessed they were brownies. They smelled vaguely like brownies, but mostly of burnt chocolate.

"Oh." He said politely. "They look… appetizing."

Lorelai winced apologetically. "Yeah, I know, they didn't turn out great. Rory and I aren't much for baking, but we just wanted to do something to show you how grateful we were."

He picked one up and tapped it against the counter. It made a slight clunking sound. "You realize these are inedible, right?"

"You don't _actually_ have to eat them." Lorelai assured him.

"Wasn't planning to." He smiled at her. "I don't really like brownies that much anyway."

"Yeah, they turned out a little like hockey pucks."

"Square hockey pucks."

"You can see why we come here so often. If we didn't, we'd starve."

Luke nodded and laughed. "Well, I'm more than happy to make sure you don't starve."

"Good, we like that too." She smiled at him softly. "Hey, and thanks for teaching Rory about how to build a fire. Now we'll never freeze, as long as there are no spiders on the wood."

"It's something everyone should know. It's a basic survival skill." Luke reasoned.

"Well, maybe, sometime you should teach me." Lorelai said.

"Sure." Luke nodded. "Anytime."

* * *

 _This took way longer to write than I wanted it too. Not the chapter itself, I just didn't know where to go next with the story. That is, until I found out about the April Fools Day Blizzard. Look it up. It's no joke. And of course, with Lorelai's penchant for snow, how could I resist?_

 _Anyway, comment, give kudos. I'll accept anything, from short one word comment to a full-on book report because, come on, I'm sure you have opinions on this stuff. Bring it on, I can take it!_


	7. My Special Friend

_A short chapter today. Can be set any point in time prior to the series, really. It was partly inspired by the scene in "Luke Can See Her Face", when Lorelai tells Shel that Luke's her boyfriend, and he kinda just rolls his eyes and is like "not this again"._

 _Enjoy, and comment if you liked it!_

* * *

Luke was in the storeroom of the diner, when Lorelai appeared. He stopped what he was doing and started to move towards her, trying to usher her out. "Hey, you're not supposed to be back- Hey, what're you doin'‽"

Lorelai wrapped her arm around his, and dragged him along, back into the diner whispering harshly. "This guy won't leave me alone, play along."

Luke rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be dragged back to the counter begrudgingly. Lorelai pasted on a fake smile, and turned to the man sitting at the counter. "Daniel, I'd like you to met my boyfriend, Luke Danes."

"I'm not your boyfriend." Luke said automatically, and immediately wished he hadn't when he saw the look of smug satisfaction on the man's face.

Luke glanced over at Lorelai, and saw a mixed looked of frustration and desperation. He cleared his throat and started over. "What I mean is, we just started going out. We haven't, uh, labeled exactly what we are yet."

"But we're already completely devoted to each other, right, honey bunches?" Lorelai leaned toward him, smiling sweetly at him. He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at her.

"Sure, uh… honey. Completely." Luke said, and took another glance at "Daniel".

Daniel didn't seem to care that she was already in a relationship, and didn't even look twice at Luke. "So, when you say 'just started', you mean like, you just went out last night, or it's been a couple months? I mean, how attached are you to this guy?"

"Oh, I'm pretty attached." Lorelai giggled, and rubbed her stomach with her free hand. Daniel's eyes widened in surprise, and Luke felt his cheeks grow red at her implication. But he kept his mouth shut. Much to his and Lorelai's relief, the other man seemed to have gotten the message.

"Oh! Well, con-congratulations, I guess. I'm… I'm late for something so I better get going." Daniel said, and left in a hurry, throwing money next to his plate.

As soon as he was gone, Luke pulled his arm away from Lorelai. "Jesus christ, Lorelai, what the hell was that about?"

"The guy was a creep!" Lorelai exclaimed. "He wouldn't take no for an answer. Even when I said had a boyfriend. So I had to convince him."

"Yeah, cause that worked so well." He said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well…"

"You couldn't have asked anybody else to do it?" Luke complained.

"Ooh, dirty!" She giggled.

"Oh, what are you, twelve?"

"Literally no." Lorelai said. "Mentally yes."

Luke glanced around the diner. "Kirk's here, why didn't you ask him to do it? I mean, help you?" He corrected.

Lorelai scoffed at him. "Okay, first off, he wasn't in here when that guy first started bugging me. Second, it's Kirk!"

Luke glanced over at Kirk, who'd ordered milk and cookies for lunch for the third time that week after finding out that no one would tell on him to his mother. Luke had, in fact, been the one to reassure him of this fact, and was forced to admit that she was right. But he was still somewhat unsettled. "I just… I can't believe you pretended to be… you know."

"Pretended to be… What?"

"Well, that you were… that we… you were, uh…" He nodded downward.

"Pregnant?" She smirked. "Knocked up? In the family way?"

Luke's chest tightened anxiously, and felt his face flush. "Yeah."

"Well, it worked didn't it?" She grinned, seeming to take delight in his discomfort, but thankfully didn't push the matter. "Thanks for helping me."

"You didn't give me much choice."

"Well, that creep didn't give me much choice." Lorelai leant over, picking up the fifty that he'd left on the counter and handing it to him. "He did, however, leave a good tip. I think that is more than enough for your troubles."

"What about compensation for psychological trauma?" He joked.

Lorelai frowned at him. "For what, pretending to be my boyfriend?"

"That's not what I meant." He said. "I just meant, for being dragged into this, not for… pretending. Just participating. But I was kidding."

"Wow." Lorelai said, mock-seriously. "Wow. Even pretending to be in a relationship with me is too much for you. I'm just… Wow."

"That's not what I meant." He repeated. "It was just a joke."

She gathered up her coat and her purse and dropped her money on the counter. "There's your compensation, Duke. I hope you're happy!"

"Lorelai, it was just a joke!" He shouted after her as she left. He almost went after her, until he saw her turn and smile at him. No, not a smile. A smirk.

He shook his head at her, and went back to work. He muttered under his breath, "Crazy lady," but couldn't keep a smile from tugging at his mouth.


	8. It's a Good Day to Dye

_Based on the 'green stripes' comment in some episode, I forget which. I wrote this a long time ago._

 _Partly inspired by "you got that certain something", which you can find here - s/11673373/1/you-got-that-certain-something_

* * *

Luke stared at her with his mouth agape.

"Not a word." Lorelai said icily.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?"

"Just give me a coffee, please."

"It's green!"

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." Lorelai snarked.

"Why's it green?"

"Because I wanted it green." Lorelai said. "And I'm getting it fixed."

"Why'd you get it done in the first place?"

"I don't know, I was in a rebellious mood, I just thought I'd try it. It didn't work, it's going away. End of discussion." Lorelai sighed irritatedly.

"You couldn't have rebelled by getting a piercing like most people? It'd look less ridiculous."

Lorelai grinned. "Oh, you like a girl with piercings, huh?"

"Uh, _no_ , I do not."

"So what kind?" Lorelai teased. "Tongue studs? Nose rings?"

"Stop it." Luke said.

"Lip piercings?" Lorelai quirked an eyebrow at him. " _Belly button rings_?"

Lorelai delighted in the fact that he turned eight shades of red. As Luke excused himself hastily, Lorelai added, "get a belly button ring" to her mental bucket list.

* * *

 _Okay, a short chapter, I know. Really short. But I really didn't have anything else for this idea, so here it is. Just wanted you guys to know that this story hasn't been completely abandoned._


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